This invention relates to a water treatment apparatus. More particularly, it relates to a water treatment unit for use as a residential countertop filter for producing potable water suitable for human ingestion such as by drinking or cooking, having a solid base easily and firmly secured to the sink countertop surface and a water treatment cartridge that is easily replaced and discarded at the end of its useful life.
A wide variety of water treatment devices are known in the prior art and most have filtration unit cartridges that are difficult and messy to replace, where water is readily spilled. Typically employed countertop residential or office water filters consist of a vertically oriented cylinder that receives water from a diverter valve attached to a sink faucet and introduces tap water to the filter and dispenses the treated water from a spigot. The tubing interconnecting the diverter valve and the filtration unit is typically obtrusive and inconvenient for those people working near the sink.
Moreover, the configuration is bulky and requires that the filter units be inconveniently located adjacent to the sink where they interfere with routine tasks such as washing dishes or food preparation. Since water often collects on the countertop and behind the faucet during normal use of the sink, countertop water filters such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,805 make it difficult to clean up this collected water and subsequently allow the growth of mold and bacteria on the sink surface.
In another example, the water filter known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,981 consists of two parts: a base and a cartridge. The cartridge contains multiple water channels directing water to the water treatment material, and is screwed into a socket in the base. The cartridge is exchanged by unscrewing the old cartridge from the base and then screwing the new cartridge into the base. The construction of this cartridge and base is complicated, comprises inconvenient tubing, and is expensive to produce.
An additional disadvantage to the countertop water filters known in prior art is that the required water supply connection at the end of the sink faucet is not possible with modern faucet designs.